Literature as the Measure of our Lives

Daniele Moyal-Sharrock

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    Abstract

    In her Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Toni Morrison said: 'We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives.' In this paper, I explore, with the help of Wittgenstein, how the language of literature can be the measure of our lives only by exceeding language – that is, by showing what cannot be said.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationWITTGENSTEIN AND THE LIMITS OF LANGUAGE
    EditorsHanne Appelqvist
    PublisherRoutledge
    Chapter12
    Number of pages18
    ISBN (Print)9781351202671
    Publication statusPublished - 16 Dec 2020

    Keywords

    • philosophy of literature
    • Literature
    • Wittgenstein
    • F. R. Leavis
    • Tractatus Logico-Phiosophicus
    • language
    • showing vs saying
    • enactment

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